In order to provide better medical care to the human population, it is necessary for medical professionals to be highly trained. This training begins in the professional schools and institutions devoted to teaching and training medical professionals, such as universities, medical schools, nursing schools, and military training facilities to name a few.
One of the areas that require a great deal of training for physicians, nurses, and technicians is training for performing operating room surgical procedures. Operating team members continually train in current and newer techniques/procedures to be up-to-date on available medical techniques for operating on patients.
One specific area that requires a great deal training for physicians, nurses, and technicians is performing surgery procedures/techniques for operating on the human heart. For example, there are a number of pathologic conditions affecting the human heart, such as, coronary artery stenosis and cardiac valve disease, including stenosis or regurgitation, each of which requires a different operating procedure. In order to perform the surgical techniques/procedures for treating these pathologic conditions, medical professionals will train on cadavers and observe actual procedures being carried out by others.
Many of the surgical techniques/procedures performed on the heart use the conventional method of stopping the heart while the procedure is being performed. During this time, the patient is maintained on a heart lung machine to permit the medical professionals to operate on a generally stationary heart. These procedures have the disadvantage of requiring heart stoppage.
Recent developments in heart surgery procedures have recognized the efficacy and benefits of operating on the heart while it is still beating. However, performing beating heart surgery requires a great deal of surgical skill and training. This training is lengthy, intensive, and requires a great deal of practice. This training/practice in-part may be facilitated by the use of surgical models and simulators allowing the surgeon to practice the needed techniques for carrying out beating heart surgery.
In order to provide medical professionals with the best training/practice for carrying out beating heart surgery, it is necessary to have the very best analogs of a beating human heart on which to practice. Therefore, it is not only necessary to provide surgical teams with a cardiac simulator with a heart on which to practice, but it would be more highly preferred to provide a cardiac simulator that as close as possible will mimic the size, structure, and beating characteristics of a human heart. Moreover, it is also preferable to provide a cardiac simulator with a heart that as close as possible can be configured to as accurately as possible simulate the abnormalities that would be experienced by medical professionals in conducting beating heart surgery.
The present invention provides a method for harvesting and preparing porcine hearts for use in cardiac simulators to provide an improved analog of the human heart for training for conducting beating heart surgery.